Mattingly establishes that he is unequivocally in control and he can enforce something like this on a regular, even daily basis. Mattingly is the Police and players are like those drivers speeding on the highway now. Let's not forget that Don played with facial hair and even spoke out about it.

Personally, I find it ridiculous to treat men like they are not in fact men, but then expect them to act like men in every other area while on the job. I'm curious what's next? Room Checks and a curfew? No wives or girl friends on road trips? Of course that is an exaggeration (or is it?).

In fairness to Don, even Joe Maddon had a terrible rule for young players my first MLB spring training. The rule? You must show at least 4" of socks between your shoes and pant leg. Why did we have this rule for players under one year of MLB service time (especially considering we had George Hendrick the man who revolutionized wearing pants down on our staff)? One person: Elijah Dukes. I'll let you research Elijah on your own, but basically he did not handle authority well so this rule was put into place to ensure that he understood that Joe was in control.

​Which player Mattingly is actively showing he is the man in charge down in Miami is anyone's guess, but the use of might through policy to gain respect in a clubhouse when you were such a great player yourself seems like a waste of time. I can't imagine there will be too many Andre Ethier incidents in Miami, but perhaps that is what he wants to circumvent.

This is not going to be rocket science here. I'm sure you have heard this before and it is true beyond any other thing you can do to improve your game and confidence level as a baseball player.

That one thing is lifting weights.

Taking it a step further, a consistent, well-designed plan in conjunction with sound nutrition will impact a young ball player more than anything else. You always reap what you sow when it comes to working out. Doing the work out is the easy part, getting to the weight room is difficult, but most challenging of all is planning and eating good nutritious foods habitually. The well-designed workout plan should get to heavier weight quickly so that you can begin to experience real gains in strength and size.

"When or at what age should I/my kid start working out?" is the question I get asked the most in this arena.

I think they can get started when they begin to mature and grow. Testosterone is a wonderful thing and without it, there won't be any significant gains in weight or strength. There is a benefit to working out pre-maturization and that is it sets the tone or creates a habit of going to the gym earlier and conditions the body albeit with lower returns in strength.

​I would have never played in the big leagues without working out. The first year after I hired a trainer, I got selected to three straight all-star games in 2004, 2005, 2006 and was in the big leagues in 2008. Every day I was working out, I was hoping the guys I was competing against were not so I could get one day better. Quantifiable gains in the weight room are easy to verify and they translate to better ball players so get to work as soon as you can.

I get asked the question of whether someone should play multiple sports more than any other.

My answer is always yes.

Don't forget there are risks, big risks too. I broke both of my ankles in the same year when I was in high school playing basketball. My brothers all got hurt playing football. But guess what? I got hurt playing baseball too, many times.

You are likely to get hurt too no matter what, it's the way that sports are today. If you don't get hurt playing, you have the potential to get hurt training.

Playing basketball gives you incredible quickness, lateral movements, learning to deal with pressure, coordination, and builds athleticism. Football builds toughness, strength, grit, and more. Tennis has plenty of good things for baseball players, track is incredibly good for baseball players, hockey is great for baseball players and the list goes on.

The downside is significant and that is if you get hurt, you can't play baseball and I get that, but I don't think I would have been as athletic or as good of a baseball player had I not devoted myself to learning and playing other sports as well and I recommend that you or your child do too.

You can't live your life surrounded in a blanket of bubble wrap so go play other sports, the rewards are huge.

One of the great tragedies of the youth game of baseball is the monumental difference in ability simply due to maturation. Watch any Little League World Series and it doesn't take a Branch Rickey or a Craig Weissmann to discover why the teams are good; they are much bigger or have more players that have begun to mature earlier than the others. Danny Almonte dominated because he was older and more mature, everyone agrees it is unfair. I would argue that it is also unfair to have kids who are physically at a huge advantage simply because their biological clock ticks quicker than others or 300 plus days older due to the calendar cut off date. Age difference doesn't matter if a younger kid has natural testosterone pumping through his blood and the other older kid does not.

My point here is not to change the system, my point is simply to tell those kids who mature later not to give up. Keep working and you will catch up eventually. If you were good before your friends got big, you will be good when you mature also.

When I was a kid playing basketball, had to shoot three pointers because my best friend Michael Romney was 6' tall in 6th grade, he could dunk a ball two years later so it shouldn't be a surprise why we won state that year. Driving the lane was a blocked shot, so I adapted until I caught up. When I moved to the big baseball field from the small one, I could barely hit it out of the infield, so I had to adapt and hit ground balls and line drives only until I caught up. You will adapt as well, but only if you keep playing. Keep on playing and your work ethic will be superior to the ones who got by because they grew early and took it for granted while you worked to keep your head above water. If I had given up, I would have never hit a home run in Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park and maybe you will too.

Everyone matures at different rates. If you find yourself in the group that matures later, know that you will hit your stride too. Here are some tips for adjusting to the new challenges you face:

Keep playing or find a new league where you can continue playing.

Begin a lifting regimen so that when you do grow, it is already your routine.

It's that time of year again. Everyone is preparing for tryouts for their school's team and everyone wants to be on the Varsity squad. I get it. However, if you will play on JV, but ride pine for Varsity do yourself a favor and ask to play JV. You don't help anyone by sitting on the bench. Here are a few things to keep in mind before you go through tryouts:

1. Relax. If you make a mistake do not sweat it. One mistake will not cost you a spot on the team. It doesn't help true, but every coach understands that you aren't perfect so thinking you can ace a tryout is almost unrealistic. Relax and if you make a mistake, move on quickly. It's not the end of the world and understand that you aren't the only one that is going to make a mistake during tryouts.

2. Prepare. This is something that needs to be addressed months in advance. If you workout, practice, throw, etc. all prior to the tryout then you are prepared. If you show up and haven't looked in your baseball bag since last season, you will be behind certainly from a confidence standpoint. When you check preparation off and it doesn't work out, you know that you did everything you could to make the team.

3. Get in Top Physical Condition. This is tied to preparation, but not entirely. Some programs and coaches will run kids to whittle down the numbers organically. What I mean is that running during tryouts is nothing more than a ploy to see how dedicated to the sport/team a kid may or may not be. If you want to play bad enough, you'll finish the mile in the time required. If not, then you didn't really want to be on the team bad enough. This makes cuts easier on the coach and removes mentally weak players easier.

4. Take Playing Catch Seriously. If you can't throw the ball where you want with nothing on the line, how can you do it with pressure? Watching kids that constantly chase over-thown balls instead of warm up is an easy sign that you may not be good enough to be on the team.

5. Highlight What You Do Well. If you throw well, show that arm strength! If you can run, make sure you are first or close to it during any running drills. If you can really hit, prove it. If defense is your thing, make the plays when the ball is hit your way. You have to put your ability on display for the coach or coaches watching when your talent area comes up, don't miss the opportunity.

.So, you're headed or planning to head to a professional tryout huh? Good for you. I'll give you a layout of what these usually look like and then give you a few ideas to help you be successful. The landscape of how these events run is different now then it was 15 years ago because it ends up being a long day for scouts without much success in terms of solid players. Now a days, you are likely to be invited instead of showing to an open tryout.

Second step: RelaxGet comfortable with the other players around you by simply introducing yourself. This will help you to relax and verbalize anything that you may need to get off your mind.

Third step: Be MemorableIntroduce yourself to the scouts briefly before the start of the tryout. A handshake and introduction will make you more memorable. Tell them where you are from and what position you play and if you last long enough, highlight your best quality as a ball player. If you impress, they will approach you.

Fourth step: 60-Yard SpringMake sure you are loose and ready. Break a sweat before you start because if you pull a muscle, you can forget about the rest of the camp. The first thing that usually happens is timed 60-yard dashes. Do not go first, instead watch the person who gives the cues for starting so you can attempt to anticipate the gun coming out of the blocks. You normally run in pairs so quick first step is paramount to a good time. Anything below a 7.0 is what you want to shoot for. 6.8 - 6.9 is good, 6.6 - 6.7 you're fast, 6.5 and below you are incredibly fast and they have taken notice for sure. My brother Isaac got drafted simply by running a 6.3 so you can understand how fast that is and why it happened.

Fifth step: ThowingAgain, make sure your arm is ready. If you hurt yourself, you aren't doing yourself any favors. This plays for infielders and outfields, take your time and grip the ball on four seams, it makes a huge difference on the carry of the ball and make sure you really get your feet under you and weight back for the transfer. No need to rush, they're looking for velocity here. Most times they will have a radar to get definitive numbers.

Sixth step: HittingIf you've made it this far, they have serious interest in you. You either ran well or threw well or they already knew you could do those things. This is the part where if you're facing live pitching, understand that the pitcher is trying to get noticed also. They rarely throw strikes so be patient here. You do yourself zero favors by expanding the zone. Stay on the heater and let them have the off-speed stuff.BP will be your time to show them what you have. Hit the ball where it's pitched to start and then towards the end feel free to play a little homerun derby if you have it in you for a few swings. If you aren't a homerun hitter, then stick to what you are as a hitter, but hit the ball hard because they're looking for bat speed in addition to your swing's ability to project to consistently high velocities.

Seventh step: Passing InformationAt this point, if you have impressed then the scouts will come to you. Look for their body language, but don't think that if they don't talk to you that they're not interested. Some of the best scouts will show less interest to keep your price down in negotiations. If they seem overly excited then it will hurt them come business time. It all depends on the personality of the scout. Get them your schedule to your teams you'll be playing and invite them to see you play. If they liked what they saw, they will come.

In a crucial part of the game, you are up and take strike one, then foul off strike two, pitch number three is a slider 6” off the plate for a ball…called strike three!?

The game is lost due to the “umpire’s mistake.” Let’s face it, they make mistakes and it stinks when it happens to us, but the only thing you can do is take ownership for your mistakes and nobody else’s. Why didn’t you hit strike one? Why didn’t you put strike two in play? Take ownership of those two that you got and try not to blame the umpire.

It’s so easy to take the stress, the pressure, the frustration and the lack of success out on someone else - in this case, the umpire. The longer you play this game the more likely you are to strike out, give up home runs or make defensive errors that cost the team a game. My advice is to let it go as fast as you can. Understand that at that moment, you were the best person for that moment in time to make that play, throw that pitch or hit that ball.

This is the game of baseball; an individual team sport that features a one-on-one match-up every pitch and a single person responsible for any ball that is hit within their reach to field. If you cannot handle this responsibility, the pressure, then baseball may not be for you.

The best thing to do is to not place any more pressure on yourself than already exists. Enjoy playing the game when it is on the line, it is so much more fun that way. If you don’t succeed, so what? The worst you can do is strike out or give up a homerun. If you do succeed, then you reap the rewards. Relax and enjoy the pressure.

Once you find that place, you will be a better player and person in life for learning to handle that stress/pressure/adversity. Don’t blame the umpire and you’ll be a better player for it.

You are less likely to play every single inning at your favorite position, so embracing the idea you’ll play elsewhere is real. Nearly every player in the big leagues played two positions in Little League, shortstop and pitcher. Even if they are left-handed, those are the prime positions and the best players generally play there. However, once big leaguers get older they start to fill in the other places on the field due to their strengths and weaknesses in relation to others on their team.

Here is a sample of what is and is not required to play each position:

Shortstops require quickness, good hands and arm strength.

Second basemen do not need as much arm strength, quickness or great hands.

Third basemen do not need as much foot quickness but need good hands.

Centerfielders are generally fast infielders that had poor infielding skills or a poor throwing arm or both,.

Right fielders likely do not run as well as centerfielders but have a much better throwing arm..

Left fielders, like first basemen, do not need to throw or run fast – they need to hit… a lot. ​

If your skill set affords you to play shortstop, you have the skill set to play every other position on the field. Shortstops are fast/quick, have a good arm, and soft hands that allow them to play every other position. If you are left handed then first base, outfield and pitcher are your destinations sooner or later. Catchers, I didn’t forget about you. Catchers generally do not run well, but need to be nimble and have a quick, short arm action when throwing runners out on the bases.

Every player makes up for their lack of hitting on defense or their lack of defense while hitting. Where do you profile? Take a look and see.

​It seems simple to throw a baseball, but there are different elements that depend on your position, the play, and the situation.

Speaking in terms of pitching, there is more than just one way to throw a baseball. Generally, you start with the ball in your glove at your chest and take the ball out of the glove, down toward the ground and then back toward center field. Finally, the ball starts forward after this length is generated and then propels forward toward home plate.

​There are two keys to keep in mind when the ball begins home.

Throwing the ball with a four-seam grip will keep it straighter, will provide more velocity and carry to the throw.

Keep your hand on top of the ball until just prior to release. If your hand is under the ball, you are sapping precious whip and velocity from your wrist.

To throw a baseball to your potential, you need to be able to utilize all of your levers (shoulder, elbow, and wrist) in the throwing motion. Keeping your hand on top of the baseball will enable you to utilize all of your levers more efficiently and create better spin and carry. This throwing motion is virtually the same for outfielders as well as infielders on balls/plays to their right.

Plays to an infielder’s left will require a lower arm action, more side arm or a ¾ arm slot depending on the play.

Anytime time is limited, a shorter arm action where you draw the ball near your ear almost like an archer with your elbow leading the arm action back behind you, then coming forward with a strong whip action is the most efficient throw.​

Hitting off the tee establishes a solid foundation for young hitters to build on. The best part of utilizing the tee is the ability to work on your swing without the timing aspect of hitting. Three things to keep in mind when hitting off the tee:

1) Watch the flight of the ball.You don't want top spin or side spin of any kind. Backspinning the ball hard is the goal of hitting off the tee no matter where you hit the ball.

2) Swing hard, but maintain a balanced position at the conclusion of the swing.You need to swing hard to hit it hard, but you also need to maintain your head location. If your head and eyes lose the ball, so will the bat. And if your head moves off the ball, generally feet/base will move more than necessary as well.

​3) Move the tee around, not your position in relation to the plate. Stay where you are, don't move according to where the tee is or you're simply working on the same pitch just in different places in the box. When you move the tee to work on a different pitch, stay aggressive and swing hard even if it's not in your "wheelhouse." The harder you hit the ball, the greater your chance to get a hit. Learning to hit strikes hard starts on the tee.